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One day Persephone is an ordinary high school senior working at her mom’s flower shop in Athens, Georgia. The next she’s fighting off Boreas, the brutal god of Winter, and learning that she’s a bonafide goddess—a rare daughter of the now-dead Zeus. Her goddess mom whisks her off to the Underworld to hide until Spring.

There she finds herself under the protection of handsome Hades, the god of the dead, and she’s automatically married to him. It’s the only way he can keep her safe. Older, wiser, and far more powerful than she, Hades isn’t interested in becoming her lover, at least not anytime soon. But every time he rescues her from another of Zeus’s schemes, they fall in love a little more. Will Hades ever admit his feelings for her?

Can she escape the grasp of her powerful dad’s minions? The Underworld is a very cool place, but is it worth giving up her life in the realm of the living? Her goddess powers are developing some serious, kick-butt potential. She’s going to fight back.

Review: This book is YA and I did NOT know that! I figured it out pretty quickly, but I wish is was a romance novel!!! This book was interesting. Some myths people already know in this book and some do not. That part is a little confusing. It is also in modern times so the fact that some are known and some not is a little annoying.

I liked parts of this book. Hades was great. Persephone was ok…it was hard since they are ‘married’ but she is still a teenager. It seems a little inappropriate which is why I wish it was a romance. It definitely ends on a cliffhanger and the ending seemed a little anticlimactic to me. Overall, I liked it. It was a good YA book and good intro into this series I just hope that the action gets a little better.

About the Author: I spent my childhood curled up with a book, and a pen. If the ending didn’t agree with me, I rewrote it. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I spent high school and college learning everything I could so that one day I could achieve that goal. I graduated college with my BFA in English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and am pursuing my masters at the University of Georgia.
My young adult fiction novel “Persephone,” will be released this summer. I also write for Athens Parent Magazine, and truuconfessions.com. I have also published several short stories, my latest, Siren Song, is available on amazon.com.

For up to the minute information on my future releases subscribe to my facebook or twitterpage!

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Synopsis: Ultimate Temptation (Book one of the Temptations Series) Release Date: July 14th, 2015 Ella Wilkins only wants one thing out of life—to graduate from high school and escape her hometown where everyone knows her and the dark cloud surrounding her … Continue reading →

Four decades ago Nora died. A tragic event for someone so young; however, four decades ago Nora was also given a second chance to walk among the living.

A Death Warden with a mysterious past, her job is to escort the newly expired towards the light, battling with the Soul Hunters who want the freshly dead to help with their own evil purposes buried in the dark.

When Nora’s charges suddenly become targets, she realizes that the hunters are after far more than just souls. A shift in power between good and evil threatens to change everything, risking the lives of the only family Nora has ever known.

Devastated and angry, she’s forced to face the man she once loved – a man who chose darkness over her – in order to find the answers she needs to stop the horror from escalating. Yet, while a lost relationship still haunts her broken heart, a new Warden with secrets of his own will enter the mix and quickly alter everything Nora believed to be true.

Death is unavoidable…but sometimes, so is love.

Review:

A) This book ends on a cliffhanger. A horrible (not in a good way) cliffhanger B) This book was so much shorter than I thought it would be. Its really more of a novella or a serial to me than a actual novel.

Now the pace was pretty good for this novel. Especially since I didn’t realize how short it was. It’s hard to talk about character development because it was so short the characters don’t really develop. You do get a good sense of the characters and who they are, but thats about it. The entire Death Warden world is a little confusing. I wish there was an index at the beginning or a introduction just explaining the overall world and how it works before you jump into the story. Jason and Nora also fall in love extremely quickly. There is nothing to really base that love off of. They know each other for two days and that’s it. It seems like she wanted to create a love triangle and create it very quickly. Overall the story just felt barely established and there is a lot more to come. The writing was fine and it was a good story. I am very interested to see what happens next.

Synopsis: He was just a boy.
And I was just a girl.
But if that’s all there was to the story it wouldn’t be very interesting, would it?

Up and coming band Willow Creek is back in their hometown for the summer. For the drummer, Maddox Wade, this summer was meant for writing music and playing gigs.

Falling in love was not part of the plan.

One look at Emma Burke and those plans cease to matter.

Emma is quiet and guarded. She’s still hurt from her father walking out two years ago. She doesn’t want to trust Maddox, but with his dark hair, smoldering good looks, and infectious smile he’s impossible to resist.

Together Maddox and Emma embark on an unforgettable summer of adventures and first love.
Everything is perfect…or so Emma thinks.

There are things she doesn’t know, and when she finds out the truth it might shatter everything she’s built with Maddox.

No one said love was easy, and for Maddox and Emma it just might be impossible.

This is a Young Adult book. The following books in the series will be New Adult.

*This book is a standalone within a series

Review: This is the first book in Micalea Smeltzer new Willow Creek series. It is YA which I didn’t realize when I got it, but you pick up on that rather quickly since the main character is still in high school. All that being said it is a clean YA novel. No graphic descriptions here. I was a little disappointed at first with the novel. It felt like everything was rather predictable. Now I know when reading YA and NA that to a certain extent everything is predictable, that is why we read them. However, this was the bad kind of predictable. That didn’t last and it became just as well written as previous works that I have read by this author.

I have to say that I loved Emma’s style in this book. It was so quirky and fun and made me wish it was summer so I could wear outfits similar! I really liked that Emma was a gentle soul. She just seemed like such a sweet person and I loved her story. Maddox was fun as well. He had some great one-liners that will make you laugh and therefore people will stare, but its worth it! It really was just one of the sweetest stories I have read in a while.

~It also set up the rest of the series nicely and I can’t wait to read about our other Willow Creek boys~

In the end I found this novel to be just as good as other YA novels. I personally prefer her writing NA and am happy that the rest of the series will be NA. Overall I really enjoyed this novel and I believe it is on sale for 99 cents right now so go pick up your copy now!

What To Read This Weekend! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while! I kinda took a month hiatus as a break, but I am back. I read a ton of books and should be able to post regularly again!

Synopsis: Halen knows the sparks igniting under her fingertips are dangerous. She has spent her entire life trying to quell the tingly feelings that make her destroy things, but now that she is back in Rockaway Beach, where she watched her father drown, the flames have become impossible to tame.

Halen is trying to hold on, but when she is thrust into a mysterious new world, the underwater realm of Elosia, she unravels the secrets of her past and can’t help but ignite. As she explores Elosia, she realizes her life has been a lie. And when those who have deceived her come to her for help, Halen must choose—walk away or unleash the magick that could destroy them all.

My Review: The cover is what first caught my attention. The title was also interesting and well done now that I have finished the book. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I love any kind of paranormal.

I haven’t read a YA book recently that had a character as young as Halen was. She is 14 in the beginning of the book and turns 15 in the course of the novel. I felt that may be a little young for some of the things said towards the end. One thing that i appreciated was that the names in this book were very unique. That is something necessary, in my opinion, for a good paranormal novel.

There were a large amount of surprises in the novel, which really kept the story interesting. I wasn’t sure where the novel was going to go at first. You get an idea as the reader that its some kind of underwater creature, but I like where the story went instead I thought it was going to go in my head.

I liked the secondary characters. Especially her friend, T. Our love interest of Dax was also fun. The whole book I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a standalone or part of a new trilogy. Of course its part of a trilogy so I know from some of the interactions with secondary characters that there will be tension and happenings in later books.

The story was paced pretty well. The ending was a little bit more anticlimactic for me. However, that may just be more of a personal thing than anything that was actually wrong with it. Sometimes the dialogue and interactions were a little boring to me, but overall I enjoyed it. I felt that it was a really original story. There was a lot of creativity I thought into the story. I will be sure to watch out for the sequel!

4/5 stars!

***I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

About the Author: I write stories about magick, love and dark creatures lurking in the shadows. When I’m not lost in Edit Land you can find me reading a book from my towering TBR pile or at the movie theater nibbling licorice. I don’t have a lucky number, but my favorite time is 11:11. I completely believe that the fortunes found inside cookies will come true and that you must be careful when wishing on stars. I live on an island, so if you want to visit you’ll need a boat, and if you want to survive the passage be sure to bring candy for the mermaids. Check out her website here! http://www.tiffanydaune.com

BROKEN SKIES is the first novel in a young adult science fiction trilogy by Theresa Kay. Perfect for fans of Angelfall by Susan Ee and the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, it tells the story of seventeen-year-old Jasmine “Jax” Mitchell, an impulsive and traumatized girl whose fierce loyalty to her kidnapped twin brother drives her to rescue him at any cost even if it means employing the help of a teenaged alien boy with questionable motives.

“This book had me ALL OVER THE PLACE. Happy, sad, angry, tummy fluttery, giddy, outraged, betrayed… just… all over the place. —Caylie M., Amazon Reviewer

“This is for those who enjoy exciting, intriguing YA level Sci-Fi and Dystopian with a sweet romance.” — Sophia Rose, Delighted Reader Blog

“The kind of novel that makes you anxiously excited about the series to come!” —Jocey, Amazon Reviewer

“All I want to keep talking about is how awesome Broken Skies was, how much I loved it and that you must read it, so we can gush about it together!” —Total Book Geek

Want to know about what happened when BROKEN SKIES got picked up by a publisher? Check out Theresa’s reaction here!

Until recently, the E’rikon have remained segregated in their city and ignored the few humans who have tried to engage them… but now they have taken Jax’s brother. To rescue him, she forms an uneasy alliance with a teenage E’rikon left stranded in the woods. She agrees to guide him to the city if he sneaks her past the human-proof barrier. Too bad it’s not that simple.

Jax, who cannot stand to be touched, finds that she’s drawn to the alien boy with bright green hair and jewel-like scales down his back. And he’s equally affected by her, the courageous redhead with haunted eyes. But she doesn’t know the alien’s true motives and he has no idea that she is much more than she seems.

In this world where alien and human are at odds, the connection forming between the two has consequences. What started off as a rescue mission sets a chain of events in motion which threatens not only the remaining humans and the growing alien society, but Earth itself.On Sale in Print: January 13, 2015

Author Bio: The only person she knows who had a subscription to Writer’s Digest at eleven and was always excited to write research papers, Theresa has been putting words to paper since a young age. Living in the mountains of central Virginia with her husband and two kids, she works as a paralegal by day, binges on Netflix at night and finds bits of time in between reading almost everything she can get her hands on and laundry to craft stories that tend to feature broken characters in sci-fi or paranormal worlds, with a touch of romance thrown in for good measure. She’s constantly lost in one fictional universe or another and is a self-proclaimed “fangirl” who loves being sucked in to new books or TV shows. Theresa originally wanted to write horror novels as an ode to her childhood passion for Stephen King, but between her internal Muse’s ramblings and the constant praise for her sci-fi pieces from her writer’s group – The Rebel Writers – she knew she should stick with what was working.

Review: I really loved this book! I am not a huge sic-fi fan, but was intrigued by the description. Once I started reading I couldn’t stop! I thought it was wonderful! The story seemed like one of the more original ones I have read recently. I really loved the plot. Plot development was right on point. I have seen it referred to as similar to Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Lux series and I agree with that assessment.

I found the trauma that Jaz has in her past really intriguing. It was different and showed a different kind of strength than I am used to seeing with women heroine. Her connection to her brother was also very realistic. They would die for each other and I really appreciated that sort of relationship in this story. The character development in this story was really great. The relationships were all deliciously complicated. Not to mention the guy, Lir. He did not disappoint at all. I think it is really hard to nail a great guy down in a book, but Theresa Kay did not disappoint. Lir was broody, complicated and hot. It all worked really well. I am very interested to see where the relationship goes from here. And that ending! Oh my! I really can’t wait to see what the rest of this series brings! Overall this book made my list for favorite new reads! 4.5/5 stars!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Here is my latest read for the weekend!

Blurb:

A generation ago, continent-sized storms called hypercanes caused the Earth to flood. The survivors were forced to retreat deep underground and build a new society.

This is the story that sixteen-year-old Jansin Nordqvist has heard all of her life.

Jansin grew up in a civilization far below the Earth’s surface. She’s spent the last eight years in military intelligence training. So when her parents surprise her with a coveted yet treacherous trip above ground, she’s prepared for anything. She’s especially thrilled to feel the fresh air, see the sun, and view the wide-open skies and the ocean for herself.

But when raiders attack Jansin’s camp and take her prisoner, she is forced to question everything she’s been taught. What do her captors want? How will she get back underground? And if she ever does, will she want to stay after learning the truth?

Review: I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. I was surprised by it. This was a book that I kept thinking of more as a movie than as a book. The plot was very complicated, but the pace was good. There were a lot of characters to keep up with though that it got a little complicated. I was confused more than once on who was who. I am assuming that there will be a sequel. The ending left the reader wondering who was alive and who wasn’t and what had happened really to a variety of characters. It had a very typical scary movie ending that leaves the reader guessing that I am not sure that I liked. I just see that type of ending so much in movies that I wanted more out of a book than what I got. The fact that the main character didn’t have any friends before being captured was hard to believe. I just wanted her to have more connection between her and her life at home than she did. I loved the connection between her and her parents though. That is rare to see nowadays in books where both parents are there and they care. The world that Kat Ross created was an interesting one. It was dystopian but so very different from other dystopian books that are out now which I appreciated. Overall I really enjoyed it and look forward to the sequel (assuming there is one!)

Author Bio: I was born in New York City and worked at a bunch of different jobs before going into journalism and then creative writing. The worst low-wage job I ever had was probably bike messenger, because it entailed at least one near death experience per hour. Coat check girl at a Soho club was the best: I could sit on a stool, openly reading a book, and usually ended the night with more tips than the bartenders.

I have a beagle, a ginger cat, a black cat, and five fish. We used to have a hamster but the cat…yeah, he ate it. My daughter and I recently, on impulse, purchased a zebra finch from Petco and released it because I really can’t stand to see birds in cages. Later found out it’s native to Australia. Whoops.

Some random but semi-interesting things about me:
I have my diving license but you could never get me into an underwater cave because I would literally die/explode from claustrophobia.
I can do handstands, although I still fall a lot.
I’ve been to the Pyramids at Giza and rode a camel.
I was a punk rocker in the eighties, so I got to see bands like the Bad Brains, Dead Kennedies and Motorhead live. Drawback: my haircut was hilarious.
I’ve been carjacked by masked bandits with guns in El Salvador.
When I travelled in Europe after college, I pretended to be Canadian. People are a lot nicer to you

For some reason it took me longer to read this book. I think part of it was because I was ok stopping which is rare.

This book was very fast-paced. The storyline kept moving and moving. I liked it though because it was different than a lot of other books that I liked.

I really liked how Ryleigh was spelt. Also there wasn’t a lot of freaking out on her end about the situation. I hate the required 10-page freak out about the situation. I really appreciated the relationship that she has with her sister. I really wanted more from the relationship between Jackson and Ryleigh. There were very few moments between them and I think it would be important to see more of their relationship.

There was some world-building in this book, but nothing too confusing. I think it would have been helpful to talk more about what makes Jackson different or the people in this other realm special. This book was all about not wasting time which I liked. I hate time-wasting in this book.

There will be a sequel so I am so excited for it!

Note: I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review!

Did you just see a flash of lightning across the sky on a clear sunny day? It’s not from Mother Nature. It is most likely from Mason Grand, swoon-worthy demigod, one of Zeus’s descendants.

Skylar Rome is supposed to be having the best summer ever before she heads off to college. Little did she know, her whole life was about to change while visiting her cousin. Nearly drowning at the beach due to unknown forces, one of the Grand brothers she’d just met, Mason, saves her life. Cool, collected, mysterious, and dangerously good-looking, Skylar is drawn to him from the start. Though she knows he is the type of guy good girls stayed away from, it seems he is always saving her life, and the attraction was inevitable.

Upon meeting the brothers, strange things begin to happen. When she accidentally kills one of the brothers, it throws her life into turmoil, as they search to find the answers. Implausibly, she gets caught up in a world of the decedents of ancient gods, all who have super powers. Not only is her discovery difficult to accept, evil beings are after her. Running out of time and running for her life, she must unravel a mystery. What do they want from her? Forced into a battle set into motion long before she was born, will she find the answers, or will she die trying?

Review:

First I must say that I LOVE this cover! It is fabulous! Really well done and fits in with the story wonderfully!

I have actually had my eye on this book for a while, therefore I was really excited to read it. The story was interesting. I always love Greek mythology and will read anything to do with it. On that note, I was a little disappointed with this story. Overall it just seemed like there was a lot going on. With everything going on, I needed the book to be longer, or at least parts to be longer. Like the blurb states Skyler accidentally kills one of the brothers. I just thought that was weird. I like when characters have siblings for them to be close and these brothers weren’t really that close. It also takes a while for the brothers to figure out what happened and that bothered me.

Overall it was ok. I did like it, but not as much as I thought I would. I really had trouble connecting with the main character and the chemistry between the main couple wasn’t as strong. The relationship was a little weird to me. I did think the flow was good and the writing was strong. The story is there, it just needed more developing in my opinion. The ending was really well done and gave some answers. The ending is what makes me want to read more because till the end I wasn’t sure. It definitely made me curious enough to read the next one.

FOLLOW UP TO FROM GODS IS FROM DIETIES

International Bestselling Author Mary Ting/M. Clarke resides in Southern California with her husband and two children. She enjoys oil painting and making jewelry. Writing her first novel, Crossroads Saga, happened by chance. It was a way to grieve the death of her beloved grandmother, and inspired by a dream she once had as a young girl. When she started reading new adult novels, she fell in love with the genre. It was the reason she had to write one-Something Great. Why the pen name, M Clarke? She tours with Magic Johnson Foundation to promote literacy and her children’s chapter book-No Bullies Allowed.

This is the third in the series and I loved the first two so I was very excited about this book. I thought that it might be a trilogy, but at the end of this book you do find out that there will be a fourth and I am so excited for it!

Once again I really liked the author’s pace and her writing. The story is just complicated enough and well thought out for the most part.

Tessa irritated me more in this book than previous ones. There were things that were just so obvious to me or how things were connected and she didn’t see them. She just seemed to make some stupid decisions sometimes and it’s a little irritating. Since she does spend a lot of this book at the compound that means not a lot of progress was made on her relationship with Dastien.

I do love Dastien. He is French, which is awesome. He stands out from guys in other books, which is always good since sometimes they blur together.

I understood that Tessa needed to go and learn how to be a witch at some point, but she didn’t seem to learn that much. There didn’t seem to be any growth for her as a witch while she was there. The climax scene was a little short for me and I am excited about Claudia’s book because I liked the idea of getting some of the story from another perspective. I think this book could have been better if done with other perspectives included. Especially what is going on with the pack while she is at the compound which you could have scenes from Dastien or preferably Meredith’s’ perspective and it really would have added to the story in my opinion. I really like the pack so I wanted to know what was happening while she was gone.

3.5/5

Note: I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest review.